Vacant Niches and the Possible Operation of Natural Laws in Ecosystems

Abstract

Woodley [2007] suggests that natural platonic laws may operate in ecosystems. He bases this claim on two kinds of "law-like behaviour" observed in nature: 1) adaptations towards specialization which can be looked at as typological lineage degeneration in which specialization makes species more sensitive to environmental perturbations; 2) occurrence of convergently evolved forms which suggest a limited number of niches or possible organismal body plans (Platonic moulds). In this paper, I critically review the evidence given by Woodley, concluding that "natural laws" may well exist in ecosystems, but that evidence for lineage degeneration as a "lawful" process in evolution from archetypes to more specialized forms which are more susceptible to environmental perturbations, and for filling of niche space, is faulty. "Vacant niche" is a valid and useful term, which draws attention to the non-saturation of niche space and non-equilibrium conditions in nature.